Southend Pier 

James McNeill Whistler made this watercolour painting of Southend Pier, possibly in the 1880s. It shows a popular seaside resort at a time of rapid industrial expansion in Britain. Whistler was an American expatriate, a key figure in the Aesthetic movement, who wanted art to be valued for its beauty, not for its social or narrative content. As such, this image might seem at first glance to be simply a depiction of a pleasant scene, and nothing more. However, we should note the new pier stretching into the distance, which would have enabled steamboats to bring day-trippers from London to enjoy the seaside. We can also note the social mix of people on the beach. Southend was known as a resort for the working classes from London and the South-East. The image might be interpreted as a comment on the changing social landscape of Victorian Britain. This can be supported by consulting resources such as social surveys and newspapers from the time. We can thus interpret this image as something more complex than simply a pretty picture.